“It’s gotten to the stage where people are so frightened that some living on their own lock themselves in their bedroom at night and leave 50 euro on the kitchen table. That is no way to live and the fact that this is what’s going on before these proposed massive closures makes it all the more worrying.” Deputy Thomas Pringlespeaking in the Dail on 20th November 2012

Yes, Irish society has finally broken down to levels last seen in Mad Max and in Donegal, householders in isolated rural areas have taken to leaving €50 on the kitchen table, before they go to bed at night, as a sacrifice to burglars so that they won’t cause injury or worse.

It would be comical if it weren’t true, and in the Dail this afternoon, the Independent TD for Donegal South West, Thomas Pringle challenged An Taoiseach about closure of rural Garda stations which has led, according to Deputy Pringle, to burglars operating with impunity in areas of Donegal. It was Deputy Pringle who asked Enda Kenny if he was aware of the practice of Donegal householders leaving burglary money out on the table at night.

Donegal is also the county where it was revealed during the summer that a member of the public was asked to give a Garda a lift to the burglary scene.

The serious points being raised about cut-backs in An Garda Siochana are going unanswered. Taoiseach Kenny this afternoon referred more than once to the waste of a “Garda sitting by himself in a 100-year old building by himself on a Wednesday afternoon” but at least 39 stations have closed so far since this Government has come to power and more closures are imminent. The Government says that compared with Scotland which has a population of 5.2m and 306 police stations, that the 700-odd Garda stations in Ireland is excessive. There has been a freeze or “moratorium” on Garda recruitment since March 2009 and the force saw 722 retirements in 2009, 362 in 2010 and 436 retirements in 2011 and is likely to have about the same in 2012, this from a force of 13,900 at the end of 2011 plus 2,000 civilian support staff and 800 Garda Reserve members.

Despite what An Taoiseach says, there has been a major reduction in headcount and presence of An Garda Siochana in the State.

The latest crime statistics from the CSO confirm that burglary has ballooned. There were 28,623 reported burglaries in the year to June 2012, up 10.3% from 25,960 in the previous year.

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7 Responses

I’m surprised NWl that you are buying into this pallaver that is uncritically pushed by the security industry and their buddies in the media. As a numbers man I’d expect that you would be backing your views on some data rather the usual PR spin.

The last data I read was that the Gardai have an average of 1 reported crime per station. Not exactly overrun by criminals are we. Obviously we have major problems in some areas but the resources are not distributed where they are required. But if I’m working in a nice cushy rural station I don’t want to be relocated to a crime spot in one of our cities.

There is virtually no data to support the contention that having a local Garda station or increases in the number of Garda has any correlation with reduced crime rates.

Anyone who has spent anytime in the courts knows that the amount of wasted Gardai resource spent hanging around our halls of justice is unbelievable. Why not a video link for evidence giving?

The security industry is just another vested interest protecting it’s patch from change. The have the advantage of a complaint media that plays ball because it needs the stories.

This is an industry that has changes little from the 1980’s. The biggest change in the last 40 years was changing the rosters from 9 to 5. I never knew our criminals worked such regular hours!

With video technology, mobile phone and da internet they should not be working the same way they did in the 1980’s.

NWL I’m afraid the last sentence does not rescue the blog from it’s Sunday World style absurdness. Words like “ballooning” when describing a 10% increase in highly debatable statistic are not up to your usual standard.

It is in the security industry’s interest to hype numbers. The industry’s numerous buddies in the media continually hype the problems without any numerical analysis. The agenda is always the same:more resources, more members, more cars, more……

Please don’t join the security hype lobby they are already well served by the rest of the media. The Herald, the Indo and RTE are looking after these folks they don’t need your well deserved reputation for analysis adding credibility to their drivel.

I have yet to see any coverage of how Garda resources are allocated. How do more with less. Analysis of Garda numbers versus other European countries would be a great addition to a non existent debate.

I concur with paddy19.
And for those of us living in the countryside having a station within a the local area isn’t any great shakes. The presence of a patrol car on a unpredictable and fairly regular basis would be far more useful. What earthly difference can a guard fast asleep in an old RIC barracks make to the security of an area.
While the perception of crime increasing when the facts say it is decreasing is more the province of the Dept of Health than Justice.

I agree with the above comments by posters. Let’s look at improving Garda productivity first by getting in clerical staff to carry out the clerical work and, as one poster says, looking at ways to avoid Guards hanging around Courts all day or out with their ‘hairdryers’ on roads (that should be for a separate traffic corps).

Also, I don’t know who is pulling who’s leg here but I find the idea of people leaving out €50 for a burglar to be ridiculous. If I were a burglar I wouldn’t be fobbed off with €50 and I don’t think householders would be that stupid to think that either.